 The now infamous Syrian witness Houssam Taher Houssam has pleaded with Lebanon's highest religious figures to protect his Lebanese fiancee from "pressures inflicted upon her by Lebanese officials."
| Too late. She's already on her way to Malaysia... |
In the second news conference from Damascus in two days, Houssam called upon Lebanese Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, Grand Mufti Mohammed Qabbani, and Higher Shiite cleric Abdel-Amir Qabalan to do their best to protect his fiancee Tharwat Hujeiri and her family. He said Wednesday that his fiancee and her family were being "harassed, pressured and subjected to bribery" to testify against him by the same politicians who had pressured him.
Houssam, who spoke very briefly while his lawyer Omar Zouhbi, did all the talking, added that his fiancee and her family shouldn't be put through this "because they are innocent, and have nothing to do with what is happening."
In his previous news conference on Monday, Houssam had said he had given false statements to the UN probe into the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri. Houssam had earlier said he fled back to Syria from Lebanon, "in a sudden flash of conscience" after giving a false deposition against top notch Lebanese and Syrian officers, which led to the arrest of four Lebanese security chiefs. He also said he had several pieces of evidence which he didn't present during his previous conference, but that he "will not reveal anything except to the Syrian independent commission in the assassination of Hariri," and that this evidence is best kept away from the media "to preserve the secrecy of the investigations."
Reporters were not allowed to direct any questions to Houssam, who said "40 percent" of the UN probe's interim report was based on his statements, possibly to prevent Houssam from giving contradicting statements as he did on Monday. Interior Minister Hassan Sabaa called Houssam "a liar" on Wednesday, adding that Mehlis' report "relies on the depositions of a large number of people, and not only Houssam." Sabaa also said Houssam had approached with "important information on Hariri's assassination," and that Sabaa directed him to the UN probe. |
BEIRUT: Detlev Mehlis is likely to stay on, Lebanese political sources said on Sunday, after Beirut asked for the probe to be extended. The interrogations of five Syrian officials are also expected to begin Monday at UN headquarters in Vienna without the supervision of UN chief investigator Detlev Mehlis.